Autism reporting and research carried from partner publishers — attributed in full and linked to the original. Licensed pieces are republished verbatim; others are summarized with a link.
Families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can face immense daily burdens due to a combination of severe food selectivity, motor impairments, sensory dysregulation and social challenges. In clinical practice, these interconnected symptoms are often treated separately—a fragmented approach that may fail to address the child's developmental needs as a whole.
Overreactions to ordinary sensory stimuli—a scratchy shirt tag, a roaring vacuum cleaner, an unfamiliar smell—are commonly associated with autism. But in fact, an estimated 15% to 20% of children experience such reactions, known as sensory over-responsivity or sensory distress, and they show up across a range of psychiatric conditions.
Some of the symptoms of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), such as autism spectrum disorder and epilepsy, may result from dysfunction of certain neurons in the brain and their ability to change their properties in response to experiences—a process called experience-dependent plasticity. In preclinical research published in Nature, a team led by investigators at Mass General Brigham identified genes involved in these neurons' plasticity and then demonstrated benefits of overexpressing one key gene.
Leucovorin prescriptions for children spiked after federal officials claimed the drug was an effective treatment for autism during a September 2025 press conference, according to a new Michigan Medicine-led study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Small neuroimaging studies are unlikely to capture consistent anatomical changes related to conditions such as autism, schizophrenia and mood disorders, according to a new “wake-up call” study.
Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 10 August.
Blocking the glycine transporter SLC6A20 restored important brain signaling and improved social, communication, and repetitive behaviors in autism-related mouse models. The treatment also worked in human brain organoids and showed lasting effects in adult mice, suggesting the brain may remain more treatable later in life than previously thought.
Medicaid spending on autism therapy quintupled in four years, climbing to $10 billion in 2025 from about $2 billion in 2021, The New York Times reports.
For years, autism has often been viewed through the lens of a simple assumption: that autistic people struggle to understand how others feel. However, accumulating research suggests the picture is far more complex. This new study, published in the journal Molecular Autism and led by Dr. Yonat Rum from Hebrew University, adds to this evidence and offers a more hopeful perspective.
Mental health conditions are more common among autistic individuals than in the general population, but knowledge about how physical and mental health interact over time has been limited. In the new study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 2 million individuals born in Sweden between 1985 and 2004, including more than 58,000 people diagnosed with autism.
People with ADHD are more likely to experience violence and attend hospital Emergency Departments, finds new research by Cardiff University, Swansea University and the University of York. The work is published in Emergency Medicine Journal.
A new study argues argues the autism spectrum has become an overly broad catch-all, risking overdiagnosis and calling for precise subgrouping.
Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 3 August.
The definition of autism may have become so broad that it risks confusion and even misdiagnosis, according to a new editorial by UCL professor Dame Uta Frith, whose pioneering research in the 1960s and '70s laid the foundations for how we understand autism.
For some families, the reason their child is not developing as expected remains unclear for a long time. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology (LIN) in Magdeburg have now identified a genetic cause of a previously unexplained developmental disorder. They showed that changes in the NPTN gene can impair the function of nerve cells. Affected children experience developmental delays, often autism and, in some cases, epilepsy.
Researchers at Kennedy Krieger Institute and Penn Engineering have developed an advanced artificial intelligence system that measures a child's ability to imitate simple body movements using ordinary video recordings. The Computerized Assessment of Motor Imitation, or CAMI-2DNet, brings researchers one step closer to a scalable, objective method for evaluating imitation, which is an important behavioral marker associated with autism.
Young people with ADHD are more likely to visit youth clinics than their peers, while autistic individuals are less likely to do so. This is shown by a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal Autism Research. The results also suggest that digital health care consultations could help reduce these disparities.
Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 27 July.
Even mild inflammation during pregnancy led mouse offspring to develop persistent brain overactivity, sensory sensitivity, repetitive behaviors, and increased seizure risk. Remarkably, one dose of rapamycin improved nearly all of these problems within about two hours. The benefits were temporary, but they suggest that adult brain circuits may remain far more adaptable than previously believed.
During roasting hot summer days, more and more people make their way to swimming pools, lakes, rivers and other spots where they can access water to stay cool.
Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have uncovered the first high-resolution structure of NBCn2, a brain protein linked to epilepsy, autism spectrum disorder and other neurological conditions, and developed the first compounds capable of inhibiting its activity. The findings provide a new framework for studying how altered brain signaling contributes to disease and may help advance future therapeutic research.
Asingle dose of the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin rapidly reverses autism-like behaviors and abnormal brain connectivity in adult mice exposed to maternal inflammation during development.
A new mouse study led by UCLA Health suggests that inflammation during pregnancy can trigger autism-like changes in offspring, but those brain and behavioral effects may be rapidly, though temporarily, reversible in adulthood with a single dose of the immunosuppressive drug rapamycin.
Sensory traits and restricted and repetitive behaviors are best understood as distinct but related characteristics, the new work suggests.
A new study shows that organized sports interventions significantly enhance motor skills in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Research suggests that more than half of children with autism spectrum disorder, a neurodevelopmental condition, experience motor impairments. An analysis in Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology indicates that sports-based interventions may improve motor skills in children with autism spectrum disorder, with martial arts and aquatic training demonstrating the most consistent benefits.
SCN2A-related developmental epileptic encephalopathy (DEE) is a rare, severe form of childhood epilepsy and one of the most common causes of monogenic autism. The condition is caused by single mutations in the sodium voltage-gated channel alpha subunit (SCN2A) gene, which controls the flow of sodium ions into neurons. These mutations promote abnormal brain excitability, resulting in uncontrolled seizures along with developmental delays, autism, movement problems and gastrointestinal issues. Most of these mutations are de novo (not inherited from a parent) and arise spontaneously.
Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 20 July.
Researchers have conducted one of the most comprehensive studies on how the autistic brain processes faces. Some hallmark characteristics of autism include tendencies to avoid looking at others' faces and to make less eye contact. Many autistic individuals have a harder time remembering faces and recognizing facial emotions than their neurotypical counterparts.
A new study demonstrates that altered aperiodic background signals on high-density 128-channel EEGs correlate with functional communication challenges in autistic youth.
Why do some children with autism communicate more easily than others, even when they hear the same words? Researchers from the University of Virginia believe the answer may lie in the brain's electrical activity. In a new study published in Scientific Reports, they found that subtle patterns in brain activity while children listened to speech were linked to how well autistic youths communicate in everyday life.
A new study reveals that the reward and salience centers in the brains of autistic teenagers fail to increase their responsiveness to unfamiliar voices as they mature.
Cerebral (or cortical) visual impairment (CVI) is a brain-based visual disorder that is the leading cause of pediatric visual impairment in developed countries. Unfortunately, because of low awareness, CVI is often misdiagnosed as other conditions—such as autism, ADHD or a learning disability.
Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 13 July.
Like other teenagers, teens on the autism spectrum are itching to exercise their social muscles. They hope for new friends, fun with people who share their interests, maybe even a romantic relationship.
A U.S. appeals court on Monday vacated the dismissal of hundreds of private lawsuits against Tylenol maker Kenvue that allege scientifically unproven ties between the painkiller and autism.
New research, led by scientists from the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai and published in Autism Research, has estimated that Phelan-McDermid syndrome (PMS) affects approximately 1 in 7,300 people, making it far more common than previous estimates suggested.
A new study, conducted by AnswersNow in partnership with the Clemson Center for Behavior Analysis (Clemson University) and published in JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting, finds that fully virtual applied behavior analysis (ABA) services delivered by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) are a feasible, well-received alternative to traditional in-person therapy for families affected by autism spectrum disorder. Among the 504 participants, 76% demonstrated measurable progress in adaptive functioning.
Early detection and treatment of congenital cerebral ventriculomegaly (CCV)—when a fetus's fluid-filled brain ventricles swell due to a condition called hydrocephalus—can help clinicians prevent developmental or neurological disabilities in affected infants. New research led by investigators at Mass General Brigham Neuroscience Institute has identified some of the gene mutations involved in this condition, which is often seen alongside autism and other developmental disorders.
Multiple genetic mouse models initially show delayed cortical development, but the animals’ molecular trajectories diverge within weeks after birth, a new study finds.
Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 5 July.
A paper published in Molecular Psychiatry, led by researchers from Queen Mary University of London and Royal Holloway, University of London, challenges the way we think about neurodevelopmental conditions.
“You have to reshape the whole system.” Tempest McDonald earns a measure of peace.
An artificial intelligence model capable of reading and interpreting animal behavior like language has been developed by researchers at KAIST. The team created an AI model that learns behavioral data in a manner similar to natural language and was able to independently identify social behavioral deficits in an autism mouse model, opening a new avenue for interpretable neuroscience.
Tylenol (also known as acetaminophen or paracetamol) is one of the most widely used over-the-counter options for easing pain and reducing fever, including during pregnancy. More recently, safety concerns around use during pregnancy have gained attention, with claims of a possible link between prenatal exposure and autism in children increasingly appearing in news headlines and prime-time debates.
Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 29 June.
Scientists demonstrates that a carbon-fiber nanosensor can differentiate Autism Spectrum Disorder from Intellectual Disability by measuring real-time nitric oxide production in undifferentiated patient stem cells, even when both conditions share identical genetic mutations.
Tempest McDonald sues Vanderbilt University Medical Center through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Her published NIH paper finds allies.
The project is helping to fill critical gaps in the genetic underpinnings of autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions.
Shank3 mutant laboratory Beagles could bridge the 90% failure gap in autism drug development, as their uniquely co-evolved social architecture allows them to mirror human-like social withdrawal, gaze aversion, and sensory changes far better than rodent models.